Qualla: Hananoiwaya: The Boulder That Seals the Underworld

Hananoiwaya: The Boulder That Seals the Underworld: Introduction

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

There is no building. There is no roof, no altar, no wooden hall with polished floors and incense smoke. There is only rock -- a 45-meter-high wall of stone, 80 meters wide, rising from the edge of the Kumano Sea in Mie Prefecture. This is Hananoiwaya Shrine, and it may be the oldest place of worship in Japan. According to the Nihon Shoki, the chronicle of Japanese mythology compiled in 720 AD, this is where the god Izanagi sealed the entrance to the underworld with a massive boulder after fleeing from the rotting corpse of his wife, Izanami, who had died giving birth to Kagu-tsuchi, the god of fire. The cave at the base of the rock -- the Flower Cavern, or Hana no Iwaya -- is said to be her grave. The rock is said to be the seal. And twice a year, the people of Kumano climb to the top and tie it shut.

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Hananoiwaya: The Boulder That Seals the Underworld: A Myth Written in Stone

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The story belongs to the deepest layer of Japanese cosmogony. Izanagi and Izanami were the divine couple who created the islands of Japan and the gods who inhabited them. When Izanami died in the fire of Kagu-tsuchi's birth, Izanagi descended into Yomi, the land of the dead, to r...

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Hananoiwaya: The Boulder That Seals the Underworld: Older Than Written Memory

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The shrine complex at Hananoiwaya dates back to the Paleolithic era, though the first written record appears in 720 AD during the Nara period. Notably, Hananoiwaya is not mentioned as a shrine in either the Kojiki or the Engishiki -- Japan's oldest historical record and its medie...

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Hananoiwaya: The Boulder That Seals the Underworld: Sutras Buried for the Future Buddha

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Hananoiwaya is a place where Shinto and Buddhism have overlapped for centuries. The 10th-century priest and poet Zoki, in his pilgrimage account, described the area around the cavern as full of buried sutras -- Buddhist scriptures interred in the earth near Izanami's tomb in the ...

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Hananoiwaya: The Boulder That Seals the Underworld: The Rope That Holds the World Shut

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Twice a year, on February 2 and October 2, the people of Kumano perform the otsunakake shinji -- the rope-changing ritual. Seven intertwined ropes are braided together into a single sacred cord 170 meters long. Dozens of citizens pull the massive rope along Shichiri Mihama Beach ...

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